A whistleblower has said she has uncovered a "catalogue of fabrication" at the heart of a probe into child sex abuse allegations against former prime minister Sir Edward Heath.

Dr Rachel Hoskins, who was enlisted by detectives to examine the evidence in Wiltshire Police's inquiry, warned the force that it should immediately end its investigation into a key accuser's "pernicious" claims of satanic ritual abuse.

The leading criminologist branded the inquiry "a disgrace" and warned that, while the force had accepted her report, she had "little confidence" police would pass the findings on to MPs.

Child sex abuse allegations against former prime minister Sir Edward Heath were dismissed as a fantasy in an official report, it has been claimed

A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman said the report was "only small part of a very complex and sensitive investigation".

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Dr Hoskins, an expert in ritualistic crimes, said she had been asked to review Operation Conifer and Operation Midland, Scotland Yard's inquiry into false claims of a VIP paedophile ring made by a man called "Nick".

She wrote: "I have exposed a catalogue of fabrication at the heart of two major inquiries. Worse still, Operation Conifer ploughs ahead. People remain accused of things that simply never happened. Wiltshire Police insist that not all their evidence is based on claims of ritual abuse. We will see. But those cases that are based on this pernicious fallacy must be closed immediately."

Dr Hoskins said she was "profoundly disturbed" to find both operations were based on two uncorroborated witnesses who had been under the influence of controversial psychotherapists.

Furthermore, Sir Edward's key accuser made claims under hypnosis that dredged up "false memories" and her allegations were the result of an "over-active imagination," the expert said.

The woman, referred to as "Lucy X", had previously made claims of satanic abuse in Tidworth, Wiltshire, to police in 1989 that were later dismissed as "nonsense".

The allegations, the expert said, were made during a period in the late 1980s when fears of widespread satanic ritual abuse where triggered by a book.

Michelle Remembers, by Canadian psychotherapist Lawrence Pazder, recounted his discussions with a hypnotised client who claimed there was an underground network of sadistic killers operating in North America. It was later widely discredited.

Dr Hoskins said that a protege of Mr Pazder, who learned his hypnosis techniques, then used them on a patient of her own in 1988.

"She wasn't to know it at the time, but she was to start the Heath sex abuse inquiry. The client's name was Lucy X," she said.

According to Dr Hoskins, Lucy X made allegations under hypnosis that included satanic ritual in churches and on Salisbury Plain and a cult who "gorged themselves on blood and body parts". Lucy X later shared these stories with three other women.

"Earlier this year they would 'remember' that Heath was a prime mover in a network of sadistic paedophile abusers ... But this was not a case built around four separate witnesses. It all went back to one patient under the hypnotic influence of a Canadian psychotherapist," Dr Hoskins said.

According to Dr Hoskins both Nick and Lucy X produced their evidence during session with psychotherapists who used similar techniques.

She said: "I have seen in the personal notes written by both Lucy X and Nick how time and again they say their psychotherapists enabled them to recall their past. I believe that without their psychotherapists there would have been no evidence."

There were also "geographical coincidences" between the two witnesses, although there is no evidence they have ever met, according to Dr Hoskins.

Sir Edward, who led the Conservative government between 1970 and 1974, died at home in Salisbury in July 2005, aged 89.

He became the most high-profile figure linked to historical abuse allegations last year.

According to Dr Hoskins the police sought to gag her, but she chose to take "the personal risk of disclosing my findings to the public".

She said: "In the process of these historic VIP child abuse inquiries, police have not only ruined the lives of many innocent people, including Ted Heath's family, they have set back the cause of genuine child abuse victims, of whom there are all too many. It is a disgrace."

A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman said the force was "disappointed that information relating a confidential report has been leaked and potentially may have impact upon those who have disclosed abuse to us".

She added: "This investigation is complex and multi-stranded. There are a number of allegations with a significant number of individuals who have disclosed allegations of abuse. In addition to this there are a number of investigations that have fallen out of the main investigation that we are pursuing.

"This report forms part of a live allegation. When we receive an allegation we are duty bound to investigate and we go impartially where the evidence takes us."

Earlier this month two people were arrested and bailed by detectives working on Operation Conifer, launched in August last year.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission launched a probe into alleged historical corruption after information from a retired officer raised concerns that Wiltshire Police deliberately caused a criminal prosecution to fail 22 years ago.

Earlier this year the probe found no evidence that a prosecution against a brothel keeper was dropped because of threats to allege publicly that Sir Edward had been involved in sexual offences.